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New York 2014 Day 4 – City of Movies

I got up at around 06:30 and started to figure out what we could see over the next couple of days travelling. At 08:15 we then headed out to meet my friend at his hotel and to then head on for breakfast. For this we went to the Carnegie Deli so we could have some New York bagels. I went for a plain bagel and some cinnamon toast which both tasted very good. The waiter though was a bit of an annoyance – he kept interrupting our own conversation with his own attempt at starting a conversation and seemed very pushy.

Shield of Captain America

Once breakfast was over we didn’t have much time left so we headed to Times Square to visit the Discovery Times Square building for the Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. Exhibition. On the way we quickly looked around M&M World but decided we’d return later when we’d have more time. Around this time we parted ways with my friend as he would be heading back to Canada that afternoon, but was going to see the exterior of the USS Intrepid first.

The exhibition did not allow photography, something they insist is on the website, though something I’d not been able to find out when booking the tickets (nor did they reply to my emails months ago when I emailed them that every question). It was nice to see props from the Avengers film, but the whole premise of being an agent seemed a bit cheesy and poorly executed.

To start with you’re “inducted” into shield and then you go through a series of training programs to see how you compare against the likes of Captain America and The Hulk. There is every little in the way of props to actually see and most of it is open space. For something that cost as much as it did, it seemed a like there was a lot they could have improved upon. After 30 minutes we’d finished and were ready to move on.

Jurassic Park in Toys R Us

Our next stop of the day was at Toys R Us and the Disney stores at Times Square to see what they were like. They were both pretty big and had a few displays worth photographing. I think the pricing was probably a little better than back home as well, but we kept having to remind ourselves that the prices we saw did not include sales tax. Back at M&M world we both bought a bag of M&Ms that were mixed with flavours such as almond, peanut butter, and raspberry. Whilst I went for a 1Ib bag, my sister unsurprisingly went for 2Ib.

M&Ms

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a grocery store to buy some almond croissants for breakfast the next day. Once our shopping was dropped off at the hotel we then carried on a couple of blocks to the USS Intrepid Air and Space Museum – an aircraft carrier housing many aircraft, and a space shuttle. As we both had the New York “Super Week” cards for Comic Con we got 20% of the price making it a bargain for how much there was there to see.

USS Intrepid

The USS Intrepid is an aircraft carrier that was built for the second World War, but was later updated and re-commissioned (twice), serving in the Vietnam war. During it’s service in the 1940’s it’s main focus was in the Pacific as the Navy advanced from island to island in it’s war against Japanese forces.

Onboard the USS Intrepid

We started off on the third deck to have lunch – I went for an Angus Steak and Cheese sandwich which was incredibly greasy (to the point where the fat was dripping onto the plate), so it was far from healthy unfortunately. The lunch facilities on this aircraft carrier were far more substantial than those that I had seen on the Midway the year before.

Once we’d finished lunch we had a quick look around the rest of the third deck before moving up onto the hanger deck. It didn’t take too long to photograph the planes and helicopters on this deck so we moved on up to the flight deck. On the flight deck there are many more airplanes and helicopters, including a Lockheed A-12 “Blackbird” built in the 1960’s as part of Project Oxcart for the CIA.

Lockheed A-12

Also on the flight deck there is a marquee under which they restoring a plane, and adjacent to that is the Space Shuttle Pavillion. Inside this is the space shuttle Enterprise, a name known to Star Trek fans everywhere. This was the first space shuttle to be built by NASA, designated OV-101, but was not suitable for spaceflight. It’s purpose was as a test craft that would lead to the construction of the USS Columbia, and later the Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

Enterprise OV-101

Originally it was to be named the Constitution and to be revealed on Constitution Day, but a petition helped to persuade the President at the time to rename the ship in honour of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 from the TV series Star Trek.

Once this was done we went up onto the bridge of the Intrepid, and then eventually off the aircraft carrier back onto solid land. On the other side of the jetty was the USS Growler, a unique Grayback-class submarine from the Cold War. It was one of only two of this class, the other having been sunk, and was built to carry four Regulus I and II nuclear cruise missiles.

USS Growler, Grayback-class submarine

We boarded this through one of the missile hangers, and gradually worked our way through it’s interior from stern to aft. This didn’t take long and before we knew it we were back outside and on our way to the next sight.

British Airways Concorde

On our way we thought we’d stop by the Jacob Javits Convention Centre to see if we could pick up our tickets for comic con, but found that this would be tomorrow. So we instead headed to the metro station and took it down to Franklin Street where there is a fire station that was used as the headquarters for the Ghostbusters in the film of the same name.

Ghostbusters Firestation

When we got off the metro there a police officer pointed me in the direction of the firehouse without me even having to look or ask. I guess he had seen the Ghostbusters t-shirt I was wearing at the time and made the assumption of what I was looking for.

Oreo Boston Cream Donut

It was then a couple of blocks walk up to Canal Street where we got back on the Metro as far as Sheridan Square. This stop started with a quick break at Hokey Donuts where they sell low fat donuts that have only 5g of fat in them. I chose an Oreo Boston Cream donut where the cream had been replaced with vanilla ice cream – this was very messy and a bad idea for a donut served warm (as the ice cream melts very quickly). Once we’d finished eating we carried on to the corner of Bedford and Grove where the exterior had been used as the location for the apartment block in the Friends TV series.

Friends apartment block

Returning where we came from the metro then took us up to 14th street where we went looking for the High Line. It took us a couple of blocks to get there, and because we both had aching legs we chose to only walk along it for two blocks. The sun was starting to set by this point so it would have reduced what we could have seen anyway. For a while we did sit on the High Line at a point where there are steps down a glass wall that overlooks the road below it.

The High Line

Once we’d finished on the High Line we took the metro back towards Times Square where we went in a White Castle for our evening meal. I had a chicken slider, which is basically two bread rolls with chicken in – I wasn’t really that keen on it, it was like having a McDonalds, though it was better than that. The drink was even worse though, it was supposed to be Sprite but it tasted more like sparkling water – something I don’t like drinking at all.

To finish the evening we photographed the lights in Times Square and headed back to the hotel. By the time we arrived it was 19:30.